Time

Time

Audio Version Coming Soon!

When we are young often we think we have forever. In our forties we think “time flies by” and there is never enough time. When we get to the sixties we start to reevaluate time. In our eighties we think we have so little time left, and make the best use of each day.

Time for a reality check.

We only have today. We aren’t guaranteed a tomorrow. We have enough grace for today and all of its’ needs. In Job the author says:

“A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”

Job 14:5 NIV

God knows us intimately. Only God knows the number of our days. He has created us with everything we need to accomplish the plans and purposes He has for our life.

Each and every one of us has a God-given purpose for our lives.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

We sometimes get so ahead of ourselves we neglect what is at our hands to do today. We lack being present with those around us and miss moments that last a lifetime. Often we think those moments are ones for someone else. There are times we miss what others may have for us. Things we need for refueling, recovering, or encouragement. When we live in the future we also can rob others of the gift of giving to us.

When we continually live in the future, the next meeting, while we are still in our current one, when we are answering phones while in the middle of time with someone or an event we really never get to live our purpose at that moment and neither does the other person.

There are times in our lives that we are so focused on where we are going that we lose track of where we are.

The verse “Be still and know that I am God” is a powerful verse. Often it is the most difficult to do as well. To be still we must stop and be present with God. When we do this then we find rest, healing, and direction.

That is what God wants to do for us and those he places around us. When we are present we can hear that still small voice in our hearts urging us, directing us in our discussions, bringing hope to us and to those we meet.

When we fill our schedules to overflowing we set ourselves up to miss the presence of God in all we do. He tells us that He gives us all we need to accomplish what His plans are for our lives. If we choose to add to that we are adding with our own strength, might, and understanding. For me, that means two things: (1) I am sure to have a wall I will hit with exhaustion, frustration, and disappointment. I can’t do God’s will and mine at the same time. There isn’t enough of me, so something will give; my will or God’s. (2) I’m missing the best that God has for my life.

But how many of us allow fear to rob us of today and all that it holds. In Matthew Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow but deal with just today, listen:

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Matthew 6:34 (MSG)

Sometimes it is a word spoken that changes the course of someone’s life. For instance, the retired NFL player Ray Lewis spoke into Michael Phelps life-giving Michael the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It wasn’t Ray’s job to make the words stick or bring the book alive for Michael Phelps it was simply to deliver a message.

I read a great article by Philip Kosloski about Michael Phelps, the Olympic gold medalist. All the success, gold, the press, and accolades didn’t give him purpose for his life. All those achievements didn’t give him his identity they were just an outcome of his talent. That is not a purpose. Here is part of the article.

He admitted in an interview with ESPN, “I had no self-esteem. No self-worth. I thought the world would just be better off without me. I figured that was the best thing to do — just end my life.”

“Phelps brought with him the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. It had been given to him by former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, and he not only read it; he began to share it with fellow patients. This gave him the nickname at the rehab center of “Preacher Mike.”

The gold was merely a platform; it was part of THE God-given purpose for his life.

Not all of us have such high profile opportunities that we see each day. But, don’t underestimate the purposes and plans God has for your life. They are as significant and life empowering as with Michael Phelps and Ray Lewis.

For today, you have what you need to follow the purposes and plans God has set out for your life. This doesn’t mean you won’t have to work hard. Nor does it mean that you won’t be stretched. What it does mean is that when you are willing to stay in “the present” following God’s purpose, your life will be full, extraordinarily rich and textured. For me, life has been astounding with mountain tops that are breathtaking filled with love, success, and life-changing experiences. My life has also been filled with valleys that had failure, disappointment, and pain. God was with me through both. When I step back I am amazed that some of the most incredible things happened during the darkest and most painful valley times. It has been through those times that not only my life would become altered and strengthened but I was surprised at the lives of those around me and how they were strengthened and given hope.

I remember one time just two weeks after my husband, Marvin, died and I was speaking at a retreat with 600 women. I couldn’t decide what to wear at the retreat so I brought all of my clothes…the whole closet…just for two days…. You get the picture. Even though I couldn’t decide such a basic thing as what to wear due to “trauma brain” I still needed to go on.

In the midst of preparing for the retreat I was to type on 600 paper hearts a different love verse. This was when typewriters were the tool at hand. To type 600 times God’s love for us resulted in my heart being overwhelmed by His love.

When it was my time to address the group I spoke on prayer and how their prayers affected me and my family and the circumstances we faced. It was powerful for me…I would suppose for the rest of the widows in the group too. In the end there were women that stood in line for me to pray for them. Every woman in my line was a widow. They determined if God could use me here and now He surely would be using them if they decided to live and not regret or resent their spouses dying. The last lady was for me; she said there is life after death and if I ever doubted it to call her and she gave me her number.

It was a dark and hard place to lose my husband and father of my kids but God not only walked me through He used it to bring hope and life to others.

His ways are not my ways. Isaiah tells us this.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

This is the key when we follow the purpose God has created us to fulfill. There is a saying:

“Today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day.”

― Francis Gray

God has a plan and purpose for your life. Are you willing today to ask God to help you know the plans He has for you for this 24-hour period? Can you stay present today, with whatever you are called to do whether you are alone or with someone else?